1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to transporting disabled vehicles and, more particularly, is concerned with a recovery unit for hitching a disabled truck tractor to a towing truck tractor in a manner comparable to normal tractor trailer operations which enhances the safety and efficiency of disabled tractor retrieval efforts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to intense usage of truck tractor and trailer rigs in transporting the bulk of goods and freight over the nation's highways, it is to be expected that tractor breakdown will be a frequent occurrence. Typically, a disabled tractor has to be removed from the highway to a service facility in order for repairs to be made. Removal normally requires towing the disabled tractor by using a large tow truck specially equipped and dedicated for that purpose. However, such tow trucks are expensive and so in many areas of the country there are either none available or there will usually be considerable delay in obtaining the services of one when a breakdown occurs.
Over the years, several attempts have been made to temporarily adapt an ordinary truck tractor to perform such towing tasks in addition to its normal use as part of a tractor and trailer rig. The objective is to eliminate the need to locate a dedicated tow truck in order to remove a disabled tractor from the highway to a service facility. The advantage in being able to use another tractor is that such tractors are found with much greater frequency in all parts of the country than are dedicated tow trucks and thus one would surely be quickly and conveniently available about anywhere the need might arise. Representative of the hoist and towing mechanisms devised in the prior art for this purpose are the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. to Johnson (2,481,223) and Parkes (4,047,773). Bothe of these mechanisms take advantage of the fifth wheel on the towing tractor to convert it for towing a disabled tractor instead of a trailer. However, of these two prior art mechanisms, Parkes is the superior one due to, among other reasons, its recognition of the added advantage of utilizing the fifth wheel on the disabled tractor to complete the towing connection between the two tractors.
While the mechanism of Parkes can be operated so as to generally achieve the objective of adapting a truck tractor for the purpose of towing a disabled tractor, nonetheless it seems to embody certain shortcomings which make it less than an optimum solution to the problem of removing a disabled tractor. Consequently, a need still exists for renewed efforts to come up with a design which will improve removal of a disabled tractor in a safer and more economical and efficient manner using another tractor.